Social Psychology Gender/Gender Roles
Over the last century we have seen a drastic boom in the advancement in technology which has help aid in the advancement of women’s rights, specifically in the field of business. Unlike a century ago, women today can build their own business with the help of social media. Unfortunately, fair gender representation has been a controversial topic this past year. Women have been known to be underrepresented in many fields. While opportunities are lacking for women in the business world, they can change this with the use of today’s advancing technology. For example, if a company is being prejudice towards women, they have a platform to turn to, which is social media. A big issue in America, is the wage gap between men and women as numerous business companies refuse to pay the women equally with men. However, this can now change with the help of today’s emerging technological tools, as women are more capable in delegating their own professional lives especially since pay secrecy is one of the main causes of this gender pay gap.
According to the article How Technology Can Help Close the Gender Gap, “The implications for companies are significant, as women amass the means and the resources to dramatically change the game. After all, women now control massive resources: In the U.S., they direct 80% of consumer spending and control $5 trillion in investable assets. They jointly control another $6 trillion, according to the Center for Talent Innovation. Women make up just over half of the workforce” (Krawcheck,2017). There are different ways that technology can aid women in business companies such as having the ability to access viable personal information. For example, with such websites such as Get Raised and Payscale, this will allow women to view their own gender pay gap. To continue, it has been proven that companies that have a fair pay system among women and men have experienced an improvement in their business performance.
If get rid of pay secrecy, we can decrease the gender pay gap. Pay secrecy has become a controversial part in many companies as employees are banned from discussing how much money they earn. Business companies believe that this will avoid notions of the inequality of pay and reduce the claims of discrimination. There is a gender role playing a part of this because their is a clear distinction between men and women in vocations. Studies have proven that women gravitate to jobs that reduce inequalities. “Studies of 640,000 people’s job preferences reveal that men more than women value earnings, promotion, challenge, and power; women more than men value good hours, personal relationships, and opportunities to help others” (Konrad & others, 2000; Pinker, 2008).Outlawing the pay secrecy in companies on a federal level have failed in countless occasions. For example, in the year 2014, President Obama issued an Executive Order in ending pay secrecy amongst federal contractors. There has been research that has suggested that many workers have that do not discuss information about their income are more fearful of retaliation or punishment for such action. According to the article, Pay Secrecy and the Gender Wage Gap in the United States studies show that states that banned pay secrecy, it is unknown about the extent to which workers utilize themselves of these laws or know about them. Interviews with state experts on pay secrecy indicate that few charges have been filed regarding pay secrecy violations.